Swimming pool water skimmers are an important component in maintaining water quality and cleanliness in swimming pools, providing continual service in removing floating debris from the surface of the water. Water skimmer units are typically embedded below the pool deck level at the pool perimeter and communicate with the surface water in the pool through a pool wall orifice with a water inlet chamber half submerged. Surface water enters the skimmer via the inlet chamber and then flows to a filter unit wherein it is filtered and subsequently returned to the pool. The skimmer, in addition to its filtering function, is typically used to introduce into the pool various chemicals used for maintaining water purity, some examples of which are sodium hypochlorite, chlorine and calcium hypochlorite just to mention a few. Being mechanical devices and needing periodic repair and replacement, it is desirable to mount the water skimmer unit in a fashion which permits the unit to be readily demounted.
The normal method of mounting the water skimmer unit to the swimming pool wall of the type in question is to cut a hole in the steel wall portion and flexible liner and bolt the skimmer inlet housing to a steel swimming pool wall around the periphery of the opening. An inner face plate and gasket is then attached with screws around the perimeter of the pool wall orifice on the pool wall interior. A significant drawback to this type of arrangement has been the fact that it affords little protection to the exposed bare metal around the orifice inner perimeter. The resulting water corrosion of the exposed metal surfaces produces corrosion products which deposit on and react with the plastic interior of the skimmer inlet chamber resulting in unsightly discoloration of the latter. The presence of the above mentioned water purification chemicals will tend to accelerate the corrosion and general degradation of any exposed metal, not to mention the presence of various highly corrosive acids such as sulphuric and nitric acid which are major components in acid rain, and hence must be considered when designing outdoor swimming pools. Accordingly, there is a need to provide an improved water skimmer mount which effectively protects any exposed metal from the corrosive aqueous environment.